HOW TO CREATE A WEEKLY PLANNING ROUTINE
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I’ve been saying it for a few years now, but my favorite day of the week is always the one where I sit down and write down my schedule for the next week.
Nothing makes me happier than my weekly planning routine - and I look forward to it each and every week.
Does that make me sad? Probably. But, there’s just something about turning the page to a new week in my planner that makes my heart so happy!
You might not be as ridiculously happy about sitting down with your planner as I am. Maybe planning or creating a schedule makes you feel confined and tied down - you’re more of a “fly by the seat of your pants” kind of gal. Or, maybe you just haven’t found a good rhythm with your planning routine to truly fall in love with the entire process.
However, I firmly believe that the key to not only your success, but your SANITY, comes down to your daily, weekly, and monthly plan.
First, having a plan is going to keep you accountable for all the things that you need to do and get done. I know especially as a business owner this is important to the people who are paying me for my services. But, if you work for any employer or even if you’re a stay-at-home-mom, having a plan is going to keep you accountable for your productivity each and every day.
Second, it IS going to help you be more productive because you’ll have an idea of just how much time you have for activities. When you don’t have a plan for your day, you’re going to waste so much more time than if you do. And I don’t know about you, but I only have 24 hours in a day… I can’t afford to waste a minute of it!
Now that you know WHY you need a plan, let’s talk about how to create that weekly planning routine. But, I want you to understand one thing before you dive into this…
A routine, whether it’s cleaning, planning, exercise, etc., is not a one-size-fits-all thing. But, seeing someone else’s plan (like mine) can give you a good starting point that you can adapt to work for YOU. Try mine out for size, but don’t hesitate to change something up if it’s not serving you. Flexibility is KEY when it comes to planning, ironically.
CREATING A WEEKLY PLANNING ROUTINE
STEP 1 | Pick a day where you can sit down with your planner(s) for 30-60 minutes.
My day to set up my plan for the week is Sunday night after the kids go to bed. Some Sundays I might do it earlier in the day, depending on what we have going on that evening, but 90% of the time, I’m spending 30 minutes on Sunday night planning out my weekly schedule.
However, it wasn’t always my Sunday night routine. When I was working full time, I’d be dreading going to work on Monday and the thought of planning out my week on Sunday night made it that much worse for me. Instead, I’d do it on Thursday because it would give me something to look forward to. I’d get to work early on Thursday morning and before even starting my school day, I’d get to plan out what the next week would look like. And yes, I still looked forward to Thursdays simply because I got to sit down with my planner. (I know, I have issues…)
Which is better? A paper planner or a digital planner?
I get asked this question a lot and really, there’s no right answer. It’s whatever works best for YOU! That being said, I use BOTH. Anything that is happening in the future (aka more than a week out) goes into my Google Calendar. I rarely have my paper planner with me because it is always a pain in the butt to pull it out to schedule another appointment at an office while I’m there. Plus, my business calendars all sync to my Google Calendar and since my clients can schedule their own appointments, I rarely know when I have calls scheduled until the week before. So, my “future planning” is all done digitally.
When I sit down to plan out my week, I use my digital calendar and I write EVERYTHING down in my paper planner. If I don’t physically write it down, this girl isn’t going to remember it. And when I write it, I pretty much know my schedule by heart going into the week - and LIVE by my paper planner (especially because it holds my to-do list too).
STEP 2 | Write down ALL your activities for the week ahead.
This is my FAVORITE part because it’s when I get to put pen to paper (well, pencil to paper because I like to be able to erase if I need to - or if I don’t think my handwriting is good enough). I use my Google Calendar to get an overview of my week and then I write down ALL my appointments into my weekly planner. This includes my personal appointments, kids’ activities, and business meetings + calls. I need it all in one place for the week and at an easy glance so I can quickly see when I have time to get the things done I need to.
STEP 3 | Block out your time.
I would love to say this is optional, but as I’ve been doing this regularly for over a year now, I can’t imagine not blocking out when I’m going to do certain things.
Now, look… this doesn’t need to be extremely specific. You don’t need to write down that you’re going to read for 30 minutes or work on one assignment for 48 minutes.
What I do is look at my Google Calendar to see when my appointments are. Then, I block out my “work time.” For example, today I scheduled my Power Hour at 9AM (per usual), then had a call at 10AM. I had from 11AM to 1PM to get my work done. Did I write down specifically what I was doing? Nope. I just blocked out 2 hours for blogging and other business-related tasks I needed to get done.
Other things I like to “block out” during my day: when I’m eating lunch, when I go shopping for groceries, my daily afternoon walks, my workout time, my morning routine, even when I’m taking the kids to school or picking them up.
The great thing about time blocking is you know exactly what you’re doing when. I think it’s a great way to help keep you accountable for your time AND productive during those set blocks.
STEP 4 | Write down your to-do list.
This is another thing that I have both a physical and digital copy of - for the exact same reason as I have a digital and paper planner. My digital to-do list is for recurring and tasks that happen in the future. For example, I have a client I work for that I do video editing for once each month. It happens each month, but without my digital reminder (I used Trello for my to-do lists), I wouldn’t remember to schedule it in the week that it needs to be done.
Then, I use my digital to-do list to write down my daily to-do list for at least Monday, if not every day of the week. Again, WRITING IT DOWN helps me to remember what I need to get done.
And if I need to add to it later or move things to another day, I absolutely can do that too.
STEP 5 | Plan out any additional things you want to remember for the week.
While I think the important things are writing down your schedule, blocking your time, and writing down your to-do list, other things are part of my weekly planning routine that has been super helpful for me.
In addition to everything above, I also write down our dinner menu for the week. Although I’m not the one who typically cooks (thank goodness), I am the one who does the shopping, so I need to know what meals to plan for ahead of time. We’re pretty predictable most days (Taco Tuesday, Pizza Friday, egg rolls one day, and usually a day for leftovers), I still need to make sure that we have everything we need for the week ahead.
I also write down my workouts for the week. While my “training plan” is pretty much the same every week, I like to write it down to jog my memory and to look back on later if I choose to.
Lastly, I like to update our spending and budget on Sunday nights. We don’t have a strict budget, but I like to at least see what’s coming in and going out so I don’t overdo it on what we are spending.
One thing I also want to note, I do NOT do this with my husband. We have a monthly calendar with all the family activities on it, but most of the things on my schedule - or on his - doesn’t affect each other’s plan. If there is something that affects our dinner plan or something else on the monthly family schedule, he’ll let me know. Otherwise, this is something I do all alone.
I hope this helps you create a weekly planning routine of your own so you can manage your time better and be more productive!
Enjoyed learning how I create my weekly planning routine? You might also enjoy my weekly cleaning routine and how we budget as a family of 4!